Non-Contradiction
by Riya3
Summary: He searches for stability in a sea of changing, contradictory advice and finds it in the girl who sits with him while he paints. SaiSaku


**Um...this isn't my best work, it's just a little experiment with present tense. So...enjoy? **

**Non-Contradiction - _"H__e won't understand if she tells him. He'll tilt his head to one side and politely ask why she's changed her mind for the hundredth time."_**

"It's hard to listen to your advice when you keep contradicting yourself, Sakura-san."

The observation is sharp, and it makes Sakura wince because it's true.

She sits beside him in the training grounds with her back to the same tree. Naruto and Yamato-taicho have left to train with Kakashi-sensei, so Sakura and Sai have taken to sitting in the warm summer shade after sparring. No one else comes by these grounds during this time, and there's soft grass bordered by trees as far as they can see.

Sai has his eyes fixed on the paper before him. There's a brush in his hand but the ink it holds is dry.

"I can't help it," she tells him, voice tinged with exasperation, "that's just how it works, Sai."

He turns to look at her, "emotions are too complication to effectively convey. You tell me to smile and greet people, but you became angry with me when I smiled and greeted that Iwa jonin on our last mission."

Sakura sighs and runs a hand through her hair, not knowing how to explain things to someone as straightforward as her anbu teammate. "You only follow that rule with comrades. There was enough political tension there without you going and heightening it."

"How do I always tell who are not comrades?" Sai asks, shuffling further into the shade of the tree, and closer to her side, "enemies are easy. They are the ones who try to kill you. But that Iwa jonin did not seem especially threatening." The paper is carefully set beside him and his brush is lying next to it, staining a few blades of grass with crusty ink.

She's aggravated, because she fails to understand how anyone can miss a concept so simple. She pauses, wondering how to put it in a way his anbu-addled mind would understand. "Comrades are the ones who would never try to hurt you."

Sai frowns. "You hit Naruto all the time. Are you not his comrade?"

At that, a wry smile pulls at her lips. "That's different. Sometimes I hit people because I care about them."

There's silence in the training grounds for a while, and Sakura basks in it. It's the nice kind of silence that she never gets with time spent around Ino or Naruto. Although it's strange to think of it, Sai is the only one she can act perfectly normal around. Naruto pulls at her inner worrier with all of his recklessness and Ino fires her up in competition like she's always done, but Sai is always just _there, _standing in the background and barely noticeable. He's a good friend sometimes. Most times.

(But he won't understand if she tells him. He'll tilt his head to one side and politely ask why she's changed her mind for the hundredth time.)

"Do you ever feel like hitting me?"

Sai's voice shocks her out of her lulling reverie and she turns to raise an eyebrow at him, "Oh, loads. But you can't help it, so it's fine."

He doesn't look completely satisfied with the answer. He turns away with a blank look, probably sorting through his memories of his books to interpret what she's said. Sakura understands, and she waits until he finishes.

Finally, he turns back with a complete lack of understanding. "Is there anything non-contradictory that you can tell me? Anything at all that will be correct all the time with a long list of exceptions or special conditions? If there is, I will follow it."

Sakura shrugs, and says the first thing that comes to her mind. "When you're around friends, just do what you like. Do what your mind tells you, beyond your books and your conditioning." It sounds vaguely right, like one of Kakashi-sensei's tongue-in-cheek pearls of wisdom. It sounds right because she finds it the hardest thing to do sometimes.

But she's still shocked when Sai leans forward to press his mouth to hers.

She breaks the kiss quickly and falls back onto her elbows. Sai leans closer, looking slightly disappointed.

"So there isn't anything without exceptions after all. If suppose you're going to tell me to do what my mind says _unless_ I'm around you," he observes in a voice that's slightly higher than usual. He leans back, and her eyes follow him as he picks up the discarded paper and brush.

For a while Sakura can only lay there, shocked. He's drawing as calmly as ever and the glint of evening sunlight falls through the gaps in the foliage, highlighting his silky hair. Finally, she pushed herself up, feeling something strange inside.

"You…wanted to do that?" She asks, slightly breathless.

"Of course," he replies, calmly. Dispassionately. His hand moves over the page, and then turns to dip the brush again.

"Why?"

"I don't know. But you seemed like the right person to do it with."

Sakura pauses, not knowing what to say. After a long moment, Sai looks back up at her. "You should take your own advice, Sakura-san," he says, brush paused. He suddenly reaches forward, slipping his fingers through her pink hair. "It's an interesting color. It would be interesting to draw but you're always moving."

She doesn't stop him, instead conscious of the thin, pale fingers on her head. She barely notices when the fingers start urging her forward, instead following them until her face is inches from his and his breath is on her cheek.

"Have you done this before, Sai?" Sakura asks, wondering if his firm but gentle grip on her arm is the result of experience, or lack of self-consciousness with inexperience.

"No. I suppose it's another thing you'll have to teach me," he tells her. The paper and brush are discarded once again, and for the first time he can understand the look in her eyes. Sakura-san is usually a mystery, but now he can tell that she wants it too.

So when she leans back in this time, their lips meet much more easily.


End file.
